"Without good-quality data at every stage, it’s impossible for firms to know what’s going on for the individual or where the failure point truly is."
- Andrew Gething, Managing Director of MorganAsh
MorganAsh has enhanced its MARS (MorganAsh Resilience System) vulnerability management platform to record how and when suggested support is recommended to customers. Users can also record customers’ reactions and take-up of recommended support.
Firms using the platform can record if support is pending, partially completed, or not implemented. They’ll also be able to log if support is incorrect (not required or declined by the customer), with notes available to add for progress and against each suggested next step.
MARS now has more than eighty standard pathways for when a characteristic of vulnerability is detected. Previous updates have given firms the option to configure pathways.
Furthermore, records will be available for audit purposes, allowing firms to report on which support is being used by customers and implemented to mitigate harm.
Users will be able to see the proportion of vulnerable customers by both the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) and MARS standards. They’ll also be able to compare their firm’s results against other MARS users to quantify progress.
Andrew Gething, Managing Director of MorganAsh (pictured), explained that the latest upgrade to MARS "strengthens the ability of users to record, track, and report on the support offered to vulnerable customers. In truth, this is a key stage within the wider vulnerability management that firms must undertake, particularly with increasing emphasis from the likes of Consumer Duty."
He said: "While it’s important to identify, classify, and monitor potential vulnerabilities, we also need to help mitigate any potential harm and then track whether that suggestion was suitable or even taken up. We can then monitor outcomes more effectively and determine whether a poor outcome was mitigated.
"We must track all these individual stages as each one can fail. Without good-quality data at every stage, it’s impossible for firms to know what’s going on for the individual or where the failure point truly is," Andrew concluded.
